Alternate Choices
by Redglade
Summary: Nothing is made solely of rainbows and sugar, and no one can stay wholesome forever. A look at how warped love really can be.


Warnings: If you prefer a guileless, stress-free Kagome in your stories, don't read this. Anything in parentheses () is a flashback.

This is what happens when you keep yourself up till four in the morning.

Disclaimer : None of the characters of the manga/anime Inuyasha belong to me. I'm just twisting them up abit.

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Kagome stood on the battlefield, bow held firmly in her hand, as she steadied her arm. All around her, her friends fought the countless youkai that tumbled from the sky, fought to keep her from harm so that she could take aim, and make the kill that would end all this. A mass of youkai rushed in front of her, blocking her sight, but Inuyasha swung his sword, and sent out a wave of light that destroyed them, and in the moment after she saw him.

Naraku, who had caused so much pain, stood there watching and laughing as their blood was spilt. She gave a small exhale and released the arrow, watching as the tip exploded with light and burnt all the youkai that tried to stop it. She watched as it sped towards him, as his eyes widened while it got closer, and as he seemed to _blur_…

She sat in front of the fire and set her bowl down, the soup finished. Satisfied, she looked around at her friends. "So how is it?" They ignored her, continued eating, staring at the fire, the ground. "Guys, what's wrong? Did I do something?" Sango reached for her Hiraikotsu and started cleaning it, while Miroku closed his eyes to meditate. Shippo laid on his stomach, and started shooting little flicks of fox magic into the campfire, causing to green sparks to shoot into the night.

Kagome felt her worry, and her temper rise. " I don't know why you guys are acting like this, but this is childish." She heard something snap behind her, the rustle of someone walking, and tried to turn to see, but couldn't. Something pushed on her chest, knocking her off balance. She looked down, angry, and for a second her vision dimmed, and she couldn't see what she was looking at. She raised a hand to it, and felt the cold hardness, and saw the tentacle that went through her chest, right where her heart was. She tracked her gaze down to where it started, and saw Naraku sitting on the other side of the fire.

"Take this out."

Naraku lifted a Dixie cup to his mouth, took a sip, and sighed with appreciation. "I do have a fondness for peach schnapps. But, yeah, I can't take it out. It's stuck. See?" She felt a nauseating wiggle shiver down the tentacle, felt it pulsate_ in her _and the tip of it brush across the skin of her back around where it had punched through. "Stop! Stop it!" She panicked, grabbing the tentacle, and started pulling and tugging, but it didn't budge. Naraku sighed, and she looked up to see him roll his eyes. "If you'd calm down for a second, you'd realize it ain't me, sugar."

She blinked, and Inuyasha was crouched in front of her, his arm stretched out towards her. He looked at her with all the love and earnestness that she had ever felt for him. "I will always love you." She smiled when he said it, and looked down at his hand, and saw that it was clasped around someone else's hand, a bloody, slender one that reached out of the hole in her chest. And she remembered the snap and rustle from before, and turned her head to look behind her.

Kikyo stood there, and looked at her from dead eyes. "I. Want. It. _**Back**_!"

Kagome jerked awake, screaming, and it took her a few seconds to realize that she was being held against a warm body, and that Inuyasha was talking to her. "Hey! Hey, calm down, it's just a dream. Just a dream." He rubbed his hand across her back in small circles, and she just tried to take a full breath without gasping. She ran her hands down her face, and under her eyes to wipe off the tears that had fallen during the dream. Same damn dream, same ending, and she always woke up to tears. She tried to ignore the headache that was starting up behind her eyes, and focused on the fire in front of her. She felt Inuyasha's hand pause against her back, and tensed as she waited for his question. Same damn question every night.

"What is the dream about?" She only laid there, and said nothing. He drew his hand back, and sat up, jerking with frustration. "Why won't you tell me? How can I help if you won't tell me?!" Silence. He stood up and started to circle around the fire, no one to complain about the noise, as the rest of the group had went their own way. A growing tendril of regret tried to wrap around her heart, but she smothered it, as she watched the man she loved. He stopped in front of her, and crouched down, so reminiscent of the dream that she felt her mouth dry up with fear. He just ran his hands through his hair, and sighed.

"I would do what I could to help you, you know that right?" She nodded. "Then why won't you tell me? Please, just let me know what is scaring you." He grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "I…I don't know what to say to make this better for you. But I do love you. Nothing will change that, Kikyo."

Kagome stared at him, and

(and she stood on the battlefield, and watched the blur of Naraku as her arrow shot towards him. She blinked and it wasn't Naraku, but Kikyo who stood there, and took the arrow in where her heart should be. She watched as the body of clay and grave dirt crumbled, as the dull light of souls brushed past the remains, and listened as Inuyasha screamed in grief. The souls climbed up to the sky, surrounded by the fleeing youkai, who had accomplished what their master wanted.

She watched in apprehension as one of the souls, smaller than the rest, paused. Then it shot towards her, and slammed into her chest, knocking her to the ground. She heard the cries of her friends as they rushed to help her, and the whisper of a dead woman in her ear. "He will always be mine." She felt the edges of her torn soul rub and blend together, and had a moment of fear as the malice, hatred, _neediness_ that Kikyo had nurtured bled into the rest of her…and then Inuyasha was bending over her, screaming. "Kagome! Kagome! Are you all right?"

She looked in his eyes, and saw a jumble of grief, and worry, and rage, and far in the back, so small that he probably didn't even realize it, was hope. Hope for his first love, and for what had been ripped from them. She saw it, and saw the choice it gave her…)

And she smiled at him. "I know, Inuyasha. And I love you too." He sat down, and picking her up, placed her in his lap. He held her tight, and laid his head on her shoulder. "I would do anything for you." She heard the truth in his words, and rubbed in circles on his back, returning the favor. " And I would do anything for you." She listened to his sigh of contentment, she listened to the whisper of a dead woman's laughter, and just smiled to herself.

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A/N : Please review! I'm having difficulty being happy with anything I write that consists of more than a paragraph. Did it flow, did it stutter, did it grind to a painful halt? Let me know!


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